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Petites Chutes de la Lukaya

KinshasaTourist attractions in the Democratic Republic of the CongoWaterfalls of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Petites chutes de la Lukaya
Petites chutes de la Lukaya

The Petites Chutes de la Lukaya (French; "Small falls of the Lukaya") is a set of small waterfalls on the Lukaya River. They are just south of Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are about 1 metre (3.3 ft) high. During the colonial era, Jesuits who settled on the Ndjili River in June 1893 at Kimbangu, in what is now Masina, were the first Catholic missionaries in the area. Within a month of their arrival, they moved away from the unhealthy, swampy conditions that they found there to relocate to Kimwenza, near the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya. The low waterfalls empty into a small lake with a sandy beach. They are an attraction to tourists who come to swim, or eat at the nearby restaurant. The Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary for endangered bonobos, which is adjacent to the falls, is also of interest to tourists. The sanctuary was founded by Claudine André of the NGO The Friends of Bonobos in Congo, in 1994, and has been located at the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya since 2002.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Petites Chutes de la Lukaya (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Petites Chutes de la Lukaya
Lesa, Mont Ngafula

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N -4.48571 ° E 15.267083 °
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Lola ya Bonobo

Lesa
Mont Ngafula
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
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bonoboscongo.net

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Petites chutes de la Lukaya
Petites chutes de la Lukaya
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Lola ya Bonobo
Lola ya Bonobo

Lola ya Bonobo is the world's only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos. Originally founded by Claudine André in 1994, since 2002 the sanctuary has been located just south of the suburb of Kimwenza at the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya, Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lola ya Bonobo means 'heaven for bonobos' in Lingala, a primary language of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lola ya Bonobo is home to about 60 bonobos who live in 30 hectares of primary forest. Lola ya Bonobo is a member of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance. Typically, bonobos arrive as young infants. The bushmeat trade in the Congo area sees hundreds of endangered bonobos killed each year for meat. The infants are sold as pets. When confiscated by government authorities, these young bonobos are taken to Lola ya Bonobo. They start a new life at the sanctuary with close care from a substitute human mother in quarantine. After being medically cleared and ready, they are integrated into a peer group ( in the nursery). Once they have matured sufficiently, they leave the care of substitute human mothers, and are integrated into one of the large, mixed-age social groups. These social groups are divided among several enclosures which allow them to receive care and nourishment from the team at the sanctuary, while allowing them to explore the forest and bond with each other. Although the bonobos are captive, they live in an environment similar to the wild. They can forage among dozens of edible plants and fruiting trees, compete for mating opportunities, and learn to avoid dangers such as stepping on venomous snakes just as they would in the wild. As a result, the bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary, living in their forested microcosm, show all the naturally occurring behaviors observed in wild bonobos (in fact, they display some behaviors such as tool use that have not been observed in the wild). The sanctuary plays a key role in the protection of wild bonobos because it makes possible the enforcement of domestic and international conservation laws aimed at preventing the trade in live bonobos. The sanctuary also acts as a mouthpiece for conservation efforts in DRC by educating thousands of Congolese visitors each year about the value of Congo's natural history, in particular the bonobo – their unique Congolese inheritance.